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skilled enough, yes, self-disciplined
enough that they could leave their
parents and successfully establish a
separate home.
In other words, they need suffi–
cient right values and character to
realize what marriage is intended to
accomplish, so they would cleave to
their mate faithfully .
All of these essential attributes are
exactly the opposite of what premari–
tal, extramarital, homosexual and
other misuses or sexual perversions
create in human character. Instead
these sins create lusts, appetites and
altitudes that undermine a whole–
some marriage and other healthy
human relationships. They make
lasting and true happiness impossible
to achieve.
Worst of all, such acts destroy
production of the spiritual character
God wants and needs in the gover–
nance of His eterna! Kingdom and
Family.
Every misuse of sex undermines
the desire or the ability to fully
experience the divinely ordained
"one flesh" union. This is the expres–
sion of total commitment to, loyalty
to, and appreciation and proper !ove
of, one's mate.
Purposes of Sex
Now consider the astounding pur–
poses of sex as revealed in Scrip–
ture.
Sex is for-reproduction.
We have
already .seen that sex relations be–
tween a husband and wife for repro–
duction is a right use of sex.
But human reproduction is not, as
one religious body has taugbt, the
only
purpose of sex, a necessary evil
to be otherwise avoided.
Human reproduction within the
family is designed by God to teach a
sacred and
God-plane
meaning not
applicable to any other kind of life.
Human children are begotten
through sex. And the begettal, period
of gestation and birth of a human
body gives us the pattern of the
spiritual sequence-so little under–
stood-that leads to eterna! life.
Upon human repentance, spiritual
begettal comes from God the Father.
Then God's true Church functions as
a Christian's spiritual mother to feed
and nourish him (Galatians 4:26,
Ephesians 4:4-16).
Our free booklet,
Just What Do
20
You Mean- Born Again?
thoroughly
explains God's process of spiritual
salvl:ltion, which is patterned after
human begettal , growth and birth.
Sex ísfor marriage.
We have seen
in scripture that marriage is a divine
institution.
It
did not evolve as a
result of long human experimenta–
tion. Marriage was ordained when
human sex was created.
Sex was ·intended to attract a
properly matched couple to want to
marry and share life together. Mar–
riage and the special sex relationship
in it was intended to generate a
unique kind of love.
Properly used marital sex would
bind and draw a man and woman
together because it is shared with no
other. The Creator intended the dif–
ferences in sexual responses between
a husband and wife to encourage
building expression of !ove and affec–
tion between one another.
But a proper marriage also allows
humans to experience, in measure, a
type of tbe future spiritual relation–
ship to come. God's true Church is
the affianced Bride of Christ , to
marry him at His return to earth and
assist Him in His rulership forever
(Romans 7:4,
U
Corinthians
JI
:2,
Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:7).
Homosexual and extramarital expe–
riences express no such relationship.
Sex is for family lije.
A proper
family unit is absolutely necessary
for the right teaching, training and
security of children. It is necessary
for the stability of a nation as a
whole. Failure of a society at the
sexual leve! undermines the stability
and health of the family. It means
the nation or society will break down
and suffer social evils.
Family life is also a God-plane
relationship. God is a Family!
The Hebrew word used for God in
Genesis 1:26 ("And God said, Let us
make man in our image ...") is
elohím'.
lt
is a plural form indicating
more than one: a group or a family.
God created sex so mankind could
understand that through spiritual
begettal (baptism, and the receiving
of God's Holy Spirit) and righteous
spiritual growth humans could be
born into the Family of God!
"Behold what manner of )ove the
Father hath bestowed upon us [Spir–
it-begotten Christians], that we
should be called the
sons
of God ...
when he [Christ) shall appear, we
shall be like him ... And every man
that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he [God] is pure"
(1
John 3: l-3).
S
ex is for /ove.
The basis of right
family life is godly !ove. God is love
(1 John 4:8, 16). The Divine Family
relationship is a Jove relationship.
Family life is designed to demon–
sti:ate what God's character and !ove
is like.
1 Corinthians 13 expounds that
!ove: "Love is patient and kind; !ove
is not jealous or boastful; it is not
arrogant or rude. Love does not insist
on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; it does not rejoice at
wrong, but rejoices in the right ..."
(Revised Standard Version).
A happy, successful marriage de–
mands development of a good deal of
this kind of love. Two mates deeply
committed to each other will want to
develop that kind of love.
The apostle Paul drew a direct
parallel between true Christian mari–
tallove and the !ove of Christ for His
Church.
"Husbands, !ove your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and
gave himself for it ... So men ought
to !ove their wives as their own
bodies . .." (Ephesians 5:25, 28).
Much of this fifth chapter of Ephe–
sians further expounds proper mari–
tal relationships.
Sex is for deve/oping and matur–
ing character.
Contrary to the propa-
. ganda of radical feminists and
others, there are major differences in
the physica), mental and emotional
talents and abilities between men
and women. Properly developed and
utilized, these attributes produce a
strong, balanced, humane and nur–
turing society.
God, the Creator, has given each
sex special gifts, emotions, talents
and responsibilities "as it pleases
Him"
(1
Corinthians 15:38). God did
not put all the strengths of His
character in one sex. The differing
masculine and feminine gifts and
talents should be mutually respected
and appreciated. Tragically, such
differences are discredited by unisex
propaganda being promoted in the
guise of "enlightenment."
When a man and woman are
united in a properly matched mar–
(Continued on page 28)
The PLAIN TRUTH